A Surprise Online Purchase

Case Study

Christine Smith is the NAGPRA coordinator for Smalltown University, which curates some of the largest collections in the country. She is contacted by Bob Jones, a police officer from a local community 45 miles away from Smalltown. Bob has contacted Christine because he has purchased a collection of artifacts from an online auction and, upon receiving the collection, realized that it contains human remains labeled as being from an archaeological site in the Southwest. Bob does not want to keep the human remains.  However, he wants to keep the artifacts. Christine is concerned that the artifacts might be associated with the bones and could, therefore, be considered Associated Funerary Objects under NAGPRA. Meanwhile, Christine’s boss at the University does not want her to take any more collections because "they have enough already to deal with." Bob Jones has asked Christine if he can stop by her office next week and relays that he will probably have the human remains with him. Bob is waiting for her response. What should Christine do?